Out To Launch: Super Bowl Edition, Day 2

Since it’s impossible to keep
a Super Bowl ad under wraps in the age of social media, the action de rigueur this year is launching the big game ad early on a brand’s YouTube channel. Let’s begin with Taco
Bell. The brand first teased its 60-second big game spot with an equally long video called “Grandpa Goes Wild.” In it, an elderly man takes his motorized scooter inside a football
stadium where he runs over a tackling dummy, yardage signs and water coolers. He also makes some donuts on the field while security catches up with him. See it
here. “Viva Young” will run during the second quarter and gives viewers a backstory on 87-year-old Bernie Goldblatt, the man with the fast scooter. Bernie escapes from
his retirement home for a night on the town with his AARP-card-carrying pals. fun.’s song “We Are Young,” sung in Spanish, plays in the background while Bernie and his pals cross
many an item off their bucket list. We’re talking swimming in a stranger’s pool, dancing in a club and not breaking a hip, making out with strangers, flashing innocent diners and getting a
back tattoo. The night ends with a trip to Taco Bell before returning to the retirement home at sunrise. Watch it here, created by Deutsch LA.

Too bad this ad for Hyundai isn’t running worldwide, since
it features a group of badlanders similar to ones seen in Coca-Cola’s big-game
spot. Hyundai Canada created “Gaspocalypse,” a 60-second spot running during halftime in Canada. Promoting the Sonata Hybrid, the ad follows a Sonata driver down a
long, lonely stretch of highway. Behind the driver a group of badlanders emerge, intent on running him off the road. The badlanders put up a good fight and might have succeeded had they not all run
out of gas. The spot ends with the Sonata owner driving the rowdy group back to the gas station and asking, “Aren’t you guys taking this weekend warrior thing a little too far?” Watch it here, created by Innocean Worldwide Canada and directed by Benji Weinstein of Steam
Films/Tool.

I never heard
of the brand Gildan until the company bought Super Bowl airtime. The wholesale manufacturer of t-shirts, looking to compete with the likes of Hanes and Fruit of the Loom, will run its
first Super Bowl spot during the third quarter. A teaser spot shows a man waking up in a bedroom that isn’t his, wearing a blindfold, smeared lipstick and attached to furry
handcuffs. The man gets away but forgets his favorite T-shirt. Does he cut his losses or return for the shirt? The teaser asks viewers, “How far will this guy go for his favorite T-shirt?”
I’m sure he goes back, for the tagline in the big game spot is “it's about time you had a favorite T-shirt.” See it here, created by DeVito/Verdi, the agency's first Super Bowl ad.

Nestle's Lean Cuisine is continuing its rebranding campaign with the first of a series of online videos that celebrate phenomenal women. The first person highlighted is a young maternity nurse from Boston, who rides motorcycles, works the night shift and knits. Whatever she does, she goes all in. She also ...

I had an L.L. Bean backpack back in the day, and it lasted for an eternity. The brand launched a back-to-school campaign highlighting just how durable the company's backpacks can be, because kids will undoubtedly put their backpacks through the ringer. In the ad, kids use their backpacks as bases ...

Merrick Backcountry, dubbed an "ancestral" dog food line from Merrick Pet Care, launched an online video where the pet food was tested -- but not by dogs. No, the brand went a step further and performed a taste test using dog's ancestors, wolves, as subjects. The taste test took place ...

Every day is a holiday, and Aug. 16 is National Bratwurst Day, or "Bratsgiving." To celebrate, Johnsonville sausage launched a music video and Bratwurst song, "The Ballad of Bratsgiving." The video is two minutes of cheesy sausage lyrics, positioned like those Time Life Music ads of yesteryear, encouraging folks to ...

To celebrate National Hot Dog Day, Oscar Mayer introduced a new vehicle to its Wienermobile fleet. The Wiener Rover is an all-terrain hot dog on heavy-duty wheels that carries hot dogs to hungry fans across the country. Take that, Mars Rover. I wonder when the Wiener Rover will be available ...

Apartments.com launched a contest on its website in which the finalists -- 12 in all -- will compete to receive free rent for life. Only one winner for that. Contestants must write a review of their apartment on the company's website to enter. Supporting the campaign is a TV campaign ...

Random iPhone App of the week: David Wiesner teamed up with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to create a wordless children's book app that takes kids on a world-within-a-world fantasy adventure. "Spot" uses animation, atmospheric sounds and interactive elements to create an Inception-esque experience for four- to eight-year-olds that's never the same ...

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America launched "Not Allowed," an ad that illustrates what consumers can and cannot bring into a Kroger's store. Viewers watch customers grocery shopping. Management tells a woman with a pet that dogs aren't allowed in-store, and a kid playing with a squirt gun ...

Ziploc celebrates tough mothers everywhere with a unique obstacle course that tests the strength of both moms and new products with easy-open tabs. Moms must navigate under couches, cook meals and open snacks for hungry children. Using easy-open tabs, moms can save the day even in sticky, greasy situations. The ...